A Port Hueneme man has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and admitted to using his car as a deadly weapon in the 2021 death of an Oxnard teen, according to authorities. He faces a maximum of 27 years to life in state prison.
Samuel Rocha, 33, had been previously convicted by a jury in April of four counts of assault with a deadly weapon and two counts of battery, according to a Ventura County District Attorney's news release. The jury was not able to reach verdicts on the remaining counts but found the special allegation of causing great bodily injury in commission of a felony to be true.
Rocha pleaded guilty Aug. 24, court records show.
On the evening of April 19, 2021, Rocha targeted a group of seven bicyclists near the intersection of Pleasant
Valley Road and Ventura Road in Port Hueneme, hitting five of them, officials said.
Pedro Valdez, 16, died after the crash and four others were injured, two seriously, the DA's office said. Rocha fled the scene in his vehicle but a witness followed him to his mother's apartment complex nearby, where he was arrested by a Port Hueneme Police Department officer.
Just 11 minutes before hitting the teenage bicyclists, Roche had "battered" a male and a female at a laundromat and "intentionally" hit an employee with his vehicle as he was leaving the parking lot, the release says. The incident was captured on video.
Roche is scheduled to be sentenced at Ventura County Superior court on Oct. 27, jail records show. He remains in custody without bail and faces a maximum of 27 years to life in state prison, officials said.
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This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Port Hueneme man pleads guilty to 2021 bike crash that killed teen
